Our complicated history with yogurt

Long ago, as far back as 10,000 BC perhaps, somewhere in the long expanse of ancient Mesopotamia, a vessel of milk began to ferment. Someone much braver than I decided to eat it and didn't die. On the contrary, they loved this accidental concoction so much, it became widely popular across the globe in the eras to follow. I'm speaking about yogurt, one of the oldest foods known to man, and quite possibly one of the most underappreciated. 

I count myself as one of these under-appreciators. Even as a child eating Go-Gurt, I wasn’t big on the idea of eating what seemed like a lesser form of ice cream. As an adult, I still know little about it, much less which version of the thousand in my supermarket’s yogurt aisle is best for me. If you haven’t noticed, there’s an almost endless variety available to us, not one of them proving any better than the other. Similarly, though yogurt is lauded as a vessel of important live bacteria for gut health, there is little consensus on which bacteria specifically are required to make this magic happen. 

I should back up. Yogurt is consumed widely across the globe, though quite differently in the U.S. Historically, yogurt was a staple food for several ancient civilizations. The ancient Mesopotamians can be credited with its origins, though presumably it wasn't popularized until approximately 2,000 BC, when livestock were domesticated and dairy became a regular component of human diets. Yogurt appears in several ancient Greek and Roman dishes, proof of its popularity across the Mediterranean. In the centuries to follow, yogurt spread to regions as far as central Asia and Northern Europe and was popular for promising long life and good health. Genghis Khan famously believed his warriors' fierce bravery was partially due to their consistent consumption of the stuff. In what is now modern Bulgaria, yogurt became a staple and was used so widely that it features prominently still in Bulgarian cuisine and is popularly believed to be behind their long lifespan.

Opinions differ on how yogurt came to the Americas though a few sources allude to Middle Eastern immigrants introducing it as early as the seventeenth century. In the United States, yogurt didn’t become a staple supermarket item until the rise of the Danone company (Dannon, as we know it here), which began mass-producing yogurt in the 1930's. 

Here's where the history gets interesting. Despite yogurt still being a staple food across a good portion of the globe (still mostly in Europe and Asia), Americans didn't gravitate towards it as readily. At least, not until it was heavily marketed as a health food that promoted long life. Even then, American consumption of yogurt wasn't where it is now. It took Dannon's invention of 'fruit-on-the-bottom' individual yogurts in the 1980's for it to dominate the yogurt aisle. Naturally, the fruitiness also turned yogurt into a treat instead of an ingredient in soups, breads, or curries.

Curiously though, this isn't the only development that popularized yogurt. By the 2000's, health fanatics began looking at the protein content, prompting manufacturers to market this as a bigger, more important selling point. Enter: Chobani. Greek yogurt came up front and center, as its thicker consistency and larger protein content made it a great option for this latest trend in nutrition. Chobani's affordable prices allowed the company to increase their sales and make Greek yogurt a commonplace item in American supermarkets. Even better, Chobani's yogurt focused less on sugar content, make Greek yogurt an exemplary food for the health-conscious. Then began yet another yogurt trend.  

By 2010, and perhaps in light of the success of Greek yogurt in American supermarkets, other artisanal yogurts took a shot at stardom. Skyr (literally ‘yogurt’ in Icelandic), one of the three Icelandic yogurt producers, became popular because of its magical heavy-protein, low-sugar content. French yogurts (like the 'Oui’ brand) are more popular as desserts, famous for being sold in the jars they’re sold in (unlike Greek or other yogurts which are processed and then packaged). Aussie yogurts, almost incredibly, are not strained and therefore closer than most to unprocessed yogurts. ‘Noosa’ has come up front and center as a popular Aussie yogurt brand, infusing their creamy yogurts with honey. Needless to say, these yogurts are delicious and texturally distinct from other brands, though all of them at least partially sweetened or close in style and texture to ice creams.

Sure enough, not long after these brands took to the American market, yet another wave of yogurt options stirred the market. The dairy-free movement became a prominent voice in the concern for bodily health as well as planet wellness. Plant-based yogurts started to soar, giving yogurt producers more creative license on what they can cream into yogurt form: cauliflower, cashews, almonds, coconut, oats, etc. In addition to the proliferation of alternative milks, the yogurt aisle now has its own section of dairy-free yogurts.

Surely you’re seeing the pattern by now: yogurt can be almost anything you want it to be, and American supermarkets will indulge your preferences. However, I’m willing to bet money the yogurt we consume now bears little resemblance to the yogurt of several thousand years ago. In fact, after yogurt’s rollercoaster ride through the various health fads of this last century, can we say we truly appreciate what it has to offer?

In its natural form, yogurt carries a delicious array of naturally available vitamins and minerals. It’s is a wonderful source of calcium, with 49 % of your daily value in a single cupful. This is followed by B vitamins, your 38% daily need of phosphorous, 12% of magnesium, and 18% of potassium. Yogurt is also naturally high in protein and without pasteurization, yogurt contains several live bacteria (or probiotics) to aid digestion. These cultures are so powerful, even lactose intolerant foodies can enjoy yogurt.

And this perhaps is the biggest tragedy of this quest for the holy grail of perfect yogurts: the underappreciation of the bacteria that inherently make yogurt such a powerful health food. It makes sense initially why this wouldn’t be an excellent selling point. In order for yogurt to be yogurt, it must have two bacteria: lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus. Doesn’t exactly make your stomach rumble, does it? Other bacteria can be added as well, though research is unclear on which bacteria would be most beneficial. For years though, the camera lens never focused on these bacteria, and many yogurts today still don’t qualify as probiotic. Instead, it’s pasteurized, undergoing heat treatment that obliterates all of these cultures.

Let’s back up here though. After all, it’s important that some pasteurization take place. Otherwise, we’d be feeding ourselves a ton of pathogens (E. Coli potentially among them) that are harmful to us. So how do we get the ‘non-pasteurized’, healthy yogurt that’s full of live cultures?

To keep the bacteria and live cultures that would help with our digestion, usually “non-pasteurized yogurt” refers to yogurt that’s been made with pasteurized milk. Lactobacillus bulgaricus, streptococcus thermophilus, and any other bacteria the manufacturer thinks are crucial here, are added to warmed milk. These bacteria then feed on the sugars in the milk, and eventually solidify into a creamy substance, leaving the bacteria alive and happy. Any pasteurization that takes place after this is superfluous, and indeed wasteful, completely ridding the final product of any beneficial bacteria.

All of this is to say, it’s perfectly safe to eat yogurt with live, active cultures. In fact, that’s what you want if you’re interested in yogurt that’s good for you. That doesn’t stop yogurt manufacturers from over-pasteurizing their products however. And for the average grocery shopper who’s not looking to do a research project just to find out what yogurt is best for them, it makes sense why non-probiotic yogurt sales are still flourishing. On the other end of the spectrum are those manufacturers that introduce additional bacteria and cultures without any research suggesting that more is better.

The result is a heap of confusion when passing by the yogurt section. Of course, much will depend on what you’re looking to get out of it: a fruity treat, some protein, a creamy substitute for ice cream, something to help your gut health, etc.

Learning from other cultures’ use of yogurt can also be illuminating. Yogurt has primarily stayed in the snack zone in America. In Indian cuisine though, yogurt appears frequently in lentil dishes, curries, baked goods, drinks, and more. Armenians eat a delicious yogurt meatball soup called Madzoon ov Kofte. There is no tzatziki sauce without yogurt. Mongolians incorporate it into their bantan soup and in Arabic cuisine, Skakriya is a special yogurt stew with meat.

Yogurt doesn’t have to be a statement of our incessant and forever incomplete quest for perfect health foods. It can be consumed like our ancestors did long before us, as a vessel for other delectable dishes. In so doing, we might be surprised how delicious yogurt can be.